OOTP 26 announcement.

[Sweed]

March 14th planned release date.


OOTP 26 - General Discussions - OOTP Developments Forums (https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4070)

HERE ARE THE NEW FEATURES COMING TO OUT OF THE PARK BASEBALL 26


For the first time ever – The Road To The World Baseball Classic™!
Introducing the Road To The World Baseball Classic™! This all-new single-player feature allows you to play this year’s authentic World Baseball Classic™ Qualifiers, and build your way towards the upcoming 2026 World Baseball Classic™. Experience the thrills and agonies of international baseball competition at the highest level!

Player Development Lab 2.0!
Our popular new single-player feature gets bigger and better this season! New progress bars improve clarity and allow you to track your players even more closely. Midterm progress reports now also give you a better idea on how your players are performing and allow you to be even more hands-on. Have a guy struggling to improve his plate discipline and don’t want to keep him in the lab for any longer? You can now cut your losses and free up the space for someone else. With new game settings, refined programs, fun news from around the league, and more, experience the development lab on a whole new level!


New and improved MLB Draft!
The importance of the draft cannot be overstated and in OOTP 26 we have greatly expanded upon the experience. An all new draft combine allows you to follow top prospects, develop strong relationships with them, and see what other organizations are thinking. Get the opinion of experts on the draft class in a new Draft Pipeline. With a new Draft Central screen and even more refinements, make your choices and see how you can transform your club into a powerhouse!

Beautiful new dynamic scoreboards with in-game live information!
OOTP 26’s visuals jump off the screen and deliver great information in real time! Updated in real-time with information from the game you’re managing, put yourself in the stands like you’re sitting in the ballpark.

Drive for the Pennant is back – now for any season in baseball history!
Our popular new mode returns – now letting you explore any year in the entire history of the sport in this unique, streamlined single player challenge! Execute important choices at crucial times, be transported to the manager’s seat in the last inning of a no-hitter, make a key pitching decision late in a game, and much more! No longer limited to just the current season, Drive For The Pennant is an incredible way to explore the rich and vast history of Major League Baseball, and focus your game on the big decisions for your team.


MLB, KBO, and More!
MLB, the complete minor leagues, the KBO in Korea and licensed leagues from the UK and the Netherlands are all here for you to explore in depth. Jump into the MLB or KBO season at any point, all season long, with up-to-the-minute rosters, trades, injuries, transactions, and more!

The National Baseball Hall of Fame!
Our amazing partnership with the National Baseball Hall of Fame continues this season in new and fascinating ways! Hall of Fame players, artifacts, and experiences will pepper OOTP 26 all season long across the entire experience.


2025 Rosters and rules!
As always, Out of the Park Baseball features up-to-the-minute 2025 MLB rosters that get updated all season long, with every franchise represented from its big league club all the way down to the low minors, and everywhere in between! Plus, OOTP 26 features officially licensed leagues from South Korea (KBO) and Europe.

Tons of upgrades big and small!
-Overhauled player scouting model, with scouts giving you more details than ever before about your players
-Improved historical ratings engine, to ensure the best historical play ever
-A Military Service system to replicate the real club decision making process needed for the KBO
-Improved UI experience
-Updated AI for all number of systems, player evaluation, and minor league management

And so much more!

Perfect Team returns with new ways to compete online against your friends and the world!
There’s nothing in the world like the incredible online competitions of Perfect Team. Featuring upgrades that come directly from our amazing community, this year’s Perfect Team is set to take players to all-new heights.

New Perfect Team 26 features:
-New Clubhouse Rewards Shop, to give you the most control of your rewards
-New league promotion systems and league play incentives
-Updates to give you more control over your team than ever before
-New licensed legendary players
-New content all season long – and beyond! All new programs, missions, competitions, and excitement await you every day.

Out of the Park Baseball 26 runs on PC/Mac and features the American League and National League logos, the World Series trophy, official logos and jerseys for all 30 MLB teams and 10 KBO teams, over 150 Minor League Baseball league and team logos, and historical MLB logos

[Atocep]

I'm interested in the draft changes. I feel the draft has long been an issue in OOTP. There isn't enough data and it feels like you're going in blind. Currently, the only hint to how other teams might be looking at a player is the player's bonus demand.

[SirFozzie]

someone outside of OOTP (which bars it from being discussed on their forums at their publisher's demand) needs to create a Japanese Baseball League to be added to any game.

[Sweed]

someone outside of OOTP (which bars it from being discussed on their forums at their publisher's demand) needs to create a Japanese Baseball League to be added to any game.

Not sure if you mean the "real" league or a fictional one? I've never cared a bit about leagues other than MLB and MiLB, but this Japanese user created fictional league has been in the mod forum for a while now. https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/showthread.php?t=342776


I think it gets good reviews? But again I don't use it so take that FWIW.

[Lathum]

I just play perfect team. Glad they are going to change the promotion/relegations system. Hopefully it has to do with record and not playoff performance. Curious about the clubhouse reward shop.

[Swaggs]

I have really grown to like the development lab. It's a pretty fun part of the season for me now. I usually bounce between trying to do strength and conditioning (which improves injury proneness), defense, running, and improving individual pitches. It seems pretty impactful to me in developing starting pitching (getting marginal pitches improved over the course of 2-3 seasons) and extending player careers with the conditioning.

One of the least fun parts is injuries, even if it is realistic, so building up durability helps, but it also isn't unrealistically successful and fails sometimes.

[Lathum]

Beta drops today for those who preordered.

[Sweed]

The official release day feature list..

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSKi3-3BXeQ0UCY-DMkaZrnfWzt7jaEYeJHpTgN1iCV-AkaNyMwWIndQLPQTY4xP1cu0YHjQXtP82iS/pub

I tried quoting and posting it here but it comes out a mess as all of the formatting doesn't come into the quote. It's much easier to read at the link.

[Lathum]

Release day today. Hopefully goes smooth. For the first time I am thinking of dumping a few hundred into points for perfect team to gain a tournament edge early on. Still undecided.

[Schmidty]

Got it last night and played the beta. I like the draft much better now, but other than that, everything seems to be the same as last year. I really want to get back into a multiplayer league like I used to be in, so I need to look into that.

[Lathum]

game just launched

[Lathum]

Won the first daily iron I entered. Totally over the moon about it!

[Swaggs]

Has anyone quick simmered to get to the generated players in the draft yet? I’m interested in how it plays, as I’m pretty happy with the last version (just reached 100 years old as a GM).

[RainMaker]

Got it last night and played the beta. I like the draft much better now, but other than that, everything seems to be the same as last year. I really want to get back into a multiplayer league like I used to be in, so I need to look into that.

What's different about the draft? Any changes to international FA? That always felt poorly done.

[Front Office Midget]

Biggest problem with 25 and before was, when watching past games (watch replay), on the "webcast" view (their "Solevision" type view), it showed the records of the teams and stats of the players at the current moment, rather than when the game took place (or just not at all).

I can't believe that hadn't been fixed in any of the 25 patches, and I sincerely hope it's different in 26. It's amazing to me that there is no immersive way to experience the "text sim" game aspect in a multiplayer league.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Biggest problem with 25 and before was, when watching past games (watch replay), on the "webcast" view (their "Solevision" type view), it showed the records of the teams and stats of the players at the current moment, rather than when the game took place (or just not at all).

I can't believe that hadn't been fixed in any of the 25 patches, and I sincerely hope it's different in 26. It's amazing to me that there is no immersive way to experience the "text sim" game aspect in a multiplayer league.

Okay, now you started me trying to think.

If I understood correctly, off the top of my head I'm not sure any game I've played has what you're talking about. Wouldn't that require filtering of what stats it displays (only consider games from X date to Y date), and wouldn't that be painfully slow (relatively speaking I guess) ?

Then again, not sure I've ever been in the middle of a watch/see old box score/etc and thought "damn, I wonder what this guy was hitting on that date" so maybe it exists and I just never looked

[Front Office Midget]

Okay, now you started me trying to think.

If I understood correctly, off the top of my head I'm not sure any game I've played has what you're talking about. Wouldn't that require filtering of what stats it displays (only consider games from X date to Y date), and wouldn't that be painfully slow (relatively speaking I guess) ?

Then again, not sure I've ever been in the middle of a watch/see old box score/etc and thought "damn, I wonder what this guy was hitting on that date" so maybe it exists and I just never looked

Mostly what I want is for the team's September 30 record to not be shown on the screen when I am watching the September 23, September 24, September 25 games, etc. I don't care if it actually shows any "back then" stats, I just want to be able to watch the text webcast of the game, after the fact, without the results already spoiled for me.

It seems like it should be the default way of playing the game... Open up the new multiplayer file, go to watch the text play by play webcast of the games from the week before... but it spoils the results right on the screen.

Kills what should be the most exciting part of the game.

[Swaggs]

This was apparently added in OOTP25, but I just read about it for the first time on Reddit and checked it out (in OOTP25 - haven't pulled the trigger for 26 yet): Did you guys know that under the GM screen, there is a history tab that shows your top and bottom (I think) 10 trades, of all time based on WAR? It also shows your top 10 or 15 players based on WAR. Pretty cool to look at after getting through a number of years. I think I had a 3 or 4 trades that were worse than my best of all-time.

[Lathum]

Anyone else do perfect team?

[RainMaker]

This was apparently added in OOTP25, but I just read about it for the first time on Reddit and checked it out (in OOTP25 - haven't pulled the trigger for 26 yet): Did you guys know that under the GM screen, there is a history tab that shows your top and bottom (I think) 10 trades, of all time based on WAR? It also shows your top 10 or 15 players based on WAR. Pretty cool to look at after getting through a number of years. I think I had a 3 or 4 trades that were worse than my best of all-time.

I didn't play 25 enough to get into it but this is really cool. I love stats like that as it makes your sim much more engaging.

[Mota]

I can't wait to see that trade tracker on my fictional league where I have about 10 seasons played.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Mostly what I want is for the team's September 30 record to not be shown on the screen when I am watching the September 23, September 24, September 25 games, etc. I don't care if it actually shows any "back then" stats, I just want to be able to watch the text webcast of the game, after the fact, without the results already spoiled for me.

It seems like it should be the default way of playing the game... Open up the new multiplayer file, go to watch the text play by play webcast of the games from the week before... but it spoils the results right on the screen.

Kills what should be the most exciting part of the game.

Somewhat idly I wonder what percentage of multi-player players ever look at a game like that. As opposed to looking at the outcome of the week/sim period and then maybe looking at individual games I mean.

[Bobble]

Anyone else do perfect team?

I do. Bobble Socks. I strictly do free-to-play. Even worse, I'm not a very good manager... :D

[Lathum]

I do. Bobble Socks. I strictly do free-to-play. Even worse, I'm not a very good manager... :D

I do as well. I run 3 teams.

Belmar Brew Crew
Twilight Glitter Vampires
Middle Earth Hobbits

I usually can grind my way to diamond. I am starting well having won a few tournaments/

[dubb93]

Playing historical fictional this year with my oldest. Started in 1871 and using it as a learning experience for him as he has a million questions about why things are happening and I'm taking my time and answering all of them.

We did fictional for a couple of reasons. He wanted to play Indianapolis and we both decided that if we didn't do fictional that I would have a giant advantage over him. Interestingly enough, he has been far more successful than I have been so far in the early goings. My goal is to expand the league to 16 teams and 154 game season by 1900.

[QuikSand]

Interesting decision to pull all the older-than-2026 versions of OOTP off the Steam platform. My first instinct is that this doesn't exactly flatter their "each year is a whole new game" pitch, but I can see how it might be better for their bottom line.

I just had a bit of an itch to play some baseball sim, my latest OOTP was 22, I checked in Steam and 26 is there for $50 and nothing else. Okay then, pass.

For the price, and my likely attention level, ZenGM is likely my best play, I suppose.

[dubb93]

Interesting decision to pull all the older-than-2026 versions of OOTP off the Steam platform. My first instinct is that this doesn't exactly flatter their "each year is a whole new game" pitch, but I can see how it might be better for their bottom line.

I just had a bit of an itch to play some baseball sim, my latest OOTP was 22, I checked in Steam and 26 is there for $50 and nothing else. Okay then, pass.

For the price, and my likely attention level, ZenGM is likely my best play, I suppose.

I had not upgraded since '23 and I can say that if you play historical fictional the engine seems to handle player creation and development a little better than it did back then. I exclusively play historical fictional nowadays. There is also now a player dev lab where you can choose what a small number of players in your system work on during the offseason but it gets a little obnoxious if you are trying to play fast.

Besides those two improvements/changes I really couldn't tell you what the hell else they have touched since '23.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I do like zengm.

Don't sleep on Baseball Mogul. They have many free versions available as well so it doesn't hurt to take it for a spin. Usually the ones that are at least three years old are available for free.

[Lathum]

I play exclusively perfect team and it’s turned in to a money grab. I only play for free but if you want to compete it’s impossible without spending thousands throughout the year.

[Mota]

The draft was actually considerably better this year. The info is presented in a much friendlier way to get things done. I picked #13 in my 28 team league, and I ended up getting the #6 and #22 league prospects in my first two rounds, not bad!

I'm NOT a fan of the draft combine though. I may turn that off for next year. Basically you're maxed out around low/average knowledge of the draft players unless you focus on them at the combine, and then you get slightly better info.

[dubb93]

The draft was actually considerably better this year. The info is presented in a much friendlier way to get things done. I picked #13 in my 28 team league, and I ended up getting the #6 and #22 league prospects in my first two rounds, not bad!

I'm NOT a fan of the draft combine though. I may turn that off for next year. Basically you're maxed out around low/average knowledge of the draft players unless you focus on them at the combine, and then you get slightly better info.

Maybe it's just me but I still find myself largely drafting the same way by looking at the draft pool and sorting by potential in different categories.

The combine is so useless I don't even use it.

[Bobble]

I play exclusively perfect team and it’s turned in to a money grab. I only play for free but if you want to compete it’s impossible without spending thousands throughout the year.

I do wish there was an official alternate free-to-play mode because that's me too. But I get that if you're going to make it so that you can pay to get an advantage, then it has to be an advantage to pay, which means F2P is not going to compete equally with the guys who pay.

I don't know where to draw that line between offering a product that people want to pay for and money grab. < shurg>

[Atocep]

I play exclusively perfect team and it’s turned in to a money grab. I only play for free but if you want to compete it’s impossible without spending thousands throughout the year.
I won 2 Perfect League titles in 2023 and made the Perfect League Championship Series finals in 2024. I stopped playing after '24 though because it has become so heavily pay to win. Spotlight packs really ruined perfect team for me.

I do think this is the best version of OOTP, straight out of the box, in years. The draft has improved massively and I haven't seen as many stupid things by AI teams.

[RainMaker]

Interesting decision to pull all the older-than-2026 versions of OOTP off the Steam platform. My first instinct is that this doesn't exactly flatter their "each year is a whole new game" pitch, but I can see how it might be better for their bottom line.

I just had a bit of an itch to play some baseball sim, my latest OOTP was 22, I checked in Steam and 26 is there for $50 and nothing else. Okay then, pass.

For the price, and my likely attention level, ZenGM is likely my best play, I suppose.

Do any other sports games do this? Kind of strange. I get wanting people to buy the more expensive version but people buying older versions because of price is still money in their pocket and they don't even have to update stuff.

[Mota]

I do wish there was an official alternate free-to-play mode because that's me too. But I get that if you're going to make it so that you can pay to get an advantage, then it has to be an advantage to pay, which means F2P is not going to compete equally with the guys who pay.

I don't know where to draw that line between offering a product that people want to pay for and money grab. < shurg>

It becomes like real baseball. If you want to pay thousands, you can be the Dodgers. And if you want to be cheap, you can be the Rays. You can still win, but who are we kidding?

[Mota]

Maybe it's just me but I still find myself largely drafting the same way by looking at the draft pool and sorting by potential in different categories.

The combine is so useless I don't even use it.

It just gives you more info in the main window without having to to go multiple screens. I like the mock draft info being visible as well, and my rankings right beside it, so I can see if that guy I like may be available to draft if I wait a round. Doesn't mean that he will, but that's the luck of the draft.

[Swaggs]

I've taken a bit of a dive into 26 this week. I haven't seen much utility to the draft combine, but maybe I'm missing something? Oddly, and I don't know if it is a bug or not, the draftees that are "impossible" to sign now seem to have their asking price preloaded in the offer field.

The biggest change (or miss) is that developing players seems super inconsistent now. All the old tricks that I have used over the years (playing time in Spring Training, hire really good coaches that are good at development, force starting at positions to develop defensive skills, and ramping up the development budget) don't seem to be as effective (if at all). Lots of guys that seem to stick 5 or 10 (I used the 20-80 scale with increments of 5) points below their potential for their prime years and then just settle in there once they reach their late 20s/early 30s. Which, I guess is realistic, but is different than past versions. It seems like contact for hitters and stuff for pitchers are the biggest offenders.

I think the interface is improving and I like the way the draft looks now. I enjoy the international scouting/signing part, too, but that was largely in place last version (although you can increase the number of players you invite to the combine now - which feels like it should be based on your scouting budget, but is in the settings). No NPB (or even a generic Japanese league) still stinks and ruins the world feel. I'm not sure why they cut down on the foreign leagues (I know it has something to do with the Korean company taking over, but unclear why?).

Anyway, still enjoy it and will give it tons of time, but I recognize that a lot of that "I'm going to stay up and play another season" or power through a few more stages had to do with seeing prospects develop and seeing them adjust to the big leagues, but a lot of players are stalling out which just isn't that fun. An example is that I play with the Pirates and they have Termarr Johnson (former top 5 pick, 2B with good contact and eye). Johnson, in both of my plays has stalled out in AAA/call up candidate with 45/60 contact in his age 22-25 seasons without bumping up at all (while my team has a very high development budget, hitting coaches with high contact/development ratings, no negative personality traits, and getting playing time and doing well in it). Quite realistic and likely outcome, but makes me more likely to lose interest when that is happening over and over with most or all of the prospects.

[Atocep]

I've taken a bit of a dive into 26 this week. I haven't seen much utility to the draft combine, but maybe I'm missing something? Oddly, and I don't know if it is a bug or not, the draftees that are "impossible" to sign now seem to have their asking price preloaded in the offer field.

The biggest change (or miss) is that developing players seems super inconsistent now. All the old tricks that I have used over the years (playing time in Spring Training, hire really good coaches that are good at development, force starting at positions to develop defensive skills, and ramping up the development budget) don't seem to be as effective (if at all). Lots of guys that seem to stick 5 or 10 (I used the 20-80 scale with increments of 5) points below their potential for their prime years and then just settle in there once they reach their late 20s/early 30s. Which, I guess is realistic, but is different than past versions. It seems like contact for hitters and stuff for pitchers are the biggest offenders.

I think the interface is improving and I like the way the draft looks now. I enjoy the international scouting/signing part, too, but that was largely in place last version (although you can increase the number of players you invite to the combine now - which feels like it should be based on your scouting budget, but is in the settings). No NPB (or even a generic Japanese league) still stinks and ruins the world feel. I'm not sure why they cut down on the foreign leagues (I know it has something to do with the Korean company taking over, but unclear why?).

Anyway, still enjoy it and will give it tons of time, but I recognize that a lot of that "I'm going to stay up and play another season" or power through a few more stages had to do with seeing prospects develop and seeing them adjust to the big leagues, but a lot of players are stalling out which just isn't that fun. An example is that I play with the Pirates and they have Termarr Johnson (former top 5 pick, 2B with good contact and eye). Johnson, in both of my plays has stalled out in AAA/call up candidate with 45/60 contact in his age 22-25 seasons without bumping up at all (while my team has a very high development budget, hitting coaches with high contact/development ratings, no negative personality traits, and getting playing time and doing well in it). Quite realistic and likely outcome, but makes me more likely to lose interest when that is happening over and over with most or all of the prospects.


Are you messing with the player development sliders at all? The AI tends to focus far too much on defense for position guys from what I've see.

[dubb93]

Player development does seem like a big problem. I’m not sure if the issue is over rating young players or guys just not developing but right now it just seems like there is a stake in the ground around 50 for just about everyone at contact. I’ve even seen guys at 45/70 complete quality of contact dev lab by excelling at it stay at 45 contact afterwards. It just feels like there has to be a bug somewhere. I couldn’t tell you the last time someone on my team hit their potential. It just stays 45/70 until they turn 30 and then turns to 45/45.

[dubb93]

I’d add that the best two players on my team were both scouting discoveries who broke the development mold by coming in already developed to 70 in contact(discovered from Independent leagues.) That is something I’ve seen very regularly is that scouting discoveries are worth way more than draft picks.

[Swaggs]

Are you messing with the player development sliders at all? The AI tends to focus far too much on defense for position guys from what I've see.

I have always turned Batter/Pitcher Aging Speed to .900 and Batter/Pitcher Dev. Speed to 1.100. That has traditionally made players develop just a little quicker and allowed some players to stay viable into their late 30s/sometimes early 40s.

I kept the Development and Target Age at the Default (from my understanding, those are new this year and are supposed to affect when players peak and for how long they peak). I think I tried to make the Aging Target Age Older in the first play through and didn't really notice much of a difference.

The only other meaningful adjustment I made was making the Overall Program Difficulty of the Player Development Lab to "Less Difficult" (in the first play through I kept it at the default and I'd say it was like a 70% failure rate, making it a lot of work and not fun at all). This change has been helpful, but still not seeing it with contact (more success with running skills, secondary pitch, defense, and strength and conditioning).

I did Disable Player Development Focus in the Program Improvement Magnitude in my second play through. I assume this to be their personalized, in-season development focus but may be wrong about that. I haven't noticed a difference with it on or off in this play through.

I'm trying to think what other settings I have changed. I always reduce injuries below the default and turn off Rule V. I create draft classes for 40 rounds and keep the 20 round draft. Made the international combine move up from 10-15, which is a good move I would recommend - it allows you to scout a few more cheaper guys while getting a good look at the 3/4/5 star guys that look interesting. I usually get 1-4 cheaper guys (like less than $500K and often closer to $100K that are 2.5-3 stars) and then 1 or 2 guys that are anywhere from $2M all the way up to the max if they look worth it. In ideal years I can get two very good international signees for around $4M-4.5M and two more developmental guys (often a good defensive catcher and/or SS or guys with high contact but not much power or relievers) with the rest of the pool.

[Mota]

Defense is super important in the game. I had the #5 FIP in the league and #26 (out of 30) in defense rating, and my team ERA was in the 20's (ranking). I swapped out a few old outfielders that were getting slower and put in a SS that was a defensive wizard, and ended up around league average in defense at the end of the season and my pitching was above average.

It was sad to see my LF who had league records in H, 2B, AB and R get benched because his contact rating went from 65 to 55 (age 34) and his defense was down to 30!

[Atocep]

Defense is super important in the game. I had the #5 FIP in the league and #26 (out of 30) in defense rating, and my team ERA was in the 20's (ranking). I swapped out a few old outfielders that were getting slower and put in a SS that was a defensive wizard, and ended up around league average in defense at the end of the season and my pitching was above average.

It was sad to see my LF who had league records in H, 2B, AB and R get benched because his contact rating went from 65 to 55 (age 34) and his defense was down to 30!

Defensively, range is massively important, but the AI will set the defensive slider to max or near max to the detriment of all hitting development on some guys.

Overall, I think there are times with text sims where realism isn't fun for a lot of people and player development may be reaching that point in OOTP. A couple of versions ago they made the draft far more realistic with the vast majority of players grading out between 45 and 50 FV. That's how actual drafts are as the deciding factor for a lot of teams is drafting certain attributes they have success developing or someone with an eye catching skill. It turns out in text sims it feels awful drafting like that. Every player looks incredibly similar when you're just dealing with ratings bars rather than real people.

For development, this year it's rarely just a linear path to the majors with improvement every step of the way. That's far more accurate, but frustrating as a player. The draft has improved but when you start to make things more realistic there's a disconnect between the control you have with a text sim with engine limitations and what you can do IRL. I can't be a Tampa Bay and decide that we've done a great job developing short armed hitters that have a quick path to the ball and good feel for the barrel and focus on those guys with hitting coaches throughout the system that team the same mechanics and approach. That leaves us feeling that things are simply random more often than not.

[dubb93]

Defensively, range is massively important, but the AI will set the defensive slider to max or near max to the detriment of all hitting development on some guys.

Overall, I think there are times with text sims where realism isn't fun for a lot of people and player development may be reaching that point in OOTP. A couple of versions ago they made the draft far more realistic with the vast majority of players grading out between 45 and 50 FV. That's how actual drafts are as the deciding factor for a lot of teams is drafting certain attributes they have success developing or someone with an eye catching skill. It turns out in text sims it feels awful drafting like that. Every player looks incredibly similar when you're just dealing with ratings bars rather than real people.

For development, this year it's rarely just a linear path to the majors with improvement every step of the way. That's far more accurate, but frustrating as a player. The draft has improved but when you start to make things more realistic there's a disconnect between the control you have with a text sim with engine limitations and what you can do IRL. I can't be a Tampa Bay and decide that we've done a great job developing short armed hitters that have a quick path to the ball and good feel for the barrel and focus on those guys with hitting coaches throughout the system that team the same mechanics and approach. That leaves us feeling that things are simply random more often than not.

Things get even weirder when you play historical fictional like I am and there is simply not a player in the league that has 70 contact that isn’t a scouting find.

[Atocep]

Things get even weirder when you play historical fictional like I am and there is simply not a player in the league that has 70 contact that isn’t a scouting find.

I turned scouting finds off. I did a couple hundred year sims and there are simply too many across the all time leaderboards and throughout the hall of fame.

I also cut the number of international free agents to 60 generated per year. They're probably too strong too, but there's a cap on them and each team has a chance at them. Scouting finds are just free players that get dumped into your system.

[dubb93]

I turned scouting finds off. I did a couple hundred year sims and there are simply too many across the all time leaderboards and throughout the hall of fame.

I also cut the number of international free agents to 60 generated per year. They're probably too strong too, but there's a cap on them and each team has a chance at them. Scouting finds are just free players that get dumped into your system.

If I turn them off will players develop or am I just further depleting my league?

[Atocep]

If I turn them off will players develop or am I just further depleting my league?

I turned them off and increased the draft by 5 rounds with 5 more rounds of players generated and haven't noticed anything but I haven't gotten too deep in the current career.

You can also put a limit on scouting finds per year with 8 the lowest number IIRC.

[dubb93]

I moved scouting finds to the least I could I think it’s 3 with my current league.

[Mota]

Defensively, range is massively important, but the AI will set the defensive slider to max or near max to the detriment of all hitting development on some guys.

Overall, I think there are times with text sims where realism isn't fun for a lot of people and player development may be reaching that point in OOTP. A couple of versions ago they made the draft far more realistic with the vast majority of players grading out between 45 and 50 FV. That's how actual drafts are as the deciding factor for a lot of teams is drafting certain attributes they have success developing or someone with an eye catching skill. It turns out in text sims it feels awful drafting like that. Every player looks incredibly similar when you're just dealing with ratings bars rather than real people.

For development, this year it's rarely just a linear path to the majors with improvement every step of the way. That's far more accurate, but frustrating as a player. The draft has improved but when you start to make things more realistic there's a disconnect between the control you have with a text sim with engine limitations and what you can do IRL. I can't be a Tampa Bay and decide that we've done a great job developing short armed hitters that have a quick path to the ball and good feel for the barrel and focus on those guys with hitting coaches throughout the system that team the same mechanics and approach. That leaves us feeling that things are simply random more often than not.

I'm not going to argue that. My drafts, with an EXCELLENT prospect scout, usually end up with me taking super high potential guys, and the potential just starts dropping off almost immediately. That 5* guy? He's 4* in August, and 3* by spring training. Very frustrating.

Once in a while you get the guys that make it, and in my fictional league, they're all on the same team! Some crazy 23 and 24 year old superstars, meanwhile I get better prospects on the waiver wire than most of the guys I draft.

[dubb93]

Just one example off my current roster that is full of these guys. Chris Paczkowski is a starting pitcher I took 1.2. I have had a dev budget 3x the league baseline every season and my pitching coach is legendary. As a 22 year old his bars looked as such:

Stuff: 50/65
Movement: 50/75
Control: 50/90

Now he has had a nice career as a middle of the rotation guy so he didn't turn out to be a bust but you will notice his bars at age 30 look oddly similar.

Stuff: 50/50
Movement: 60/60
Control: 50/50

My dev strategy for his has resulted in minimal gains to movement and minimal losses to control. I have many more examples like a OF I drafted with who was 45/75 for contact and then when he hit 30 (he's now 31) that potential just left and he became 50/50. I have a 28 y/o starter who has had the same current ratings since he was 23 the only thing that has changed is potential slowly going down. I assume he will just lose all that potential when he hits 30 like my OF.

Guys just aren't developing for whatever reason. I'm not really complaining because I see what they are aiming for, but there is zero incentive to get high draft picks because those guys all end up stuck at the 50-55 range for nearly everything just as the guys taken later do.

[bhlloy]

FWIW, I haven't played this year but every version I've played since the change to development/drafts I've put down after a season or two for exactly the reasons you both mention.

OOTP used to have a very compelling position as a fun, pseudo-realistic game that was deep and you could quick sim a few seasons in a single session while feeling connected to the results and having success with developing a team over time. Some of the best gaming experiences I've ever had were in online OOTP leagues. And since those changes, just hasn't been the same to me. I have no doubt it's much more realistic, but it feels totally random and without a path to success.

[Mota]

One thing I started to do is to draft college players that have meaningful ratings already. Those guys with 20/20/20 with massive potential seem to fizzle out almost 100%.

In a way, that's probably fairly realistic. Drafting high school players is a huge risk in real life. But it's not fun.

[Atocep]

One thing I started to do is to draft college players that have meaningful ratings already. Those guys with 20/20/20 with massive potential seem to fizzle out almost 100%.

In a way, that's probably fairly realistic. Drafting high school players is a huge risk in real life. But it's not fun.

Early in the draft I almost exclusively avoid high school guys and won't draft 20 CV college guys either. For hitters I want to see at least 25 CV and for pitchers, ideally, 30 or even 35 CV.

I get less picky after the first few rounds but still my general rules are no 1st basemen or high school catchers in the first few rounds. I usually avoid catchers early altogether as their bust rates are crazy. As the draft progresses I prefer guys that at least offer some defensive value since even if they don't develop as hitters they may be useful utility guys.

I feel the draft has more depth and strategy this year. I find I'm rarely just drafting BPA.

[RainMaker]

Just one example off my current roster that is full of these guys. Chris Paczkowski is a starting pitcher I took 1.2. I have had a dev budget 3x the league baseline every season and my pitching coach is legendary. As a 22 year old his bars looked as such:

Stuff: 50/65
Movement: 50/75
Control: 50/90

Now he has had a nice career as a middle of the rotation guy so he didn't turn out to be a bust but you will notice his bars at age 30 look oddly similar.

Stuff: 50/50
Movement: 60/60
Control: 50/50

My dev strategy for his has resulted in minimal gains to movement and minimal losses to control. I have many more examples like a OF I drafted with who was 45/75 for contact and then when he hit 30 (he's now 31) that potential just left and he became 50/50. I have a 28 y/o starter who has had the same current ratings since he was 23 the only thing that has changed is potential slowly going down. I assume he will just lose all that potential when he hits 30 like my OF.

Guys just aren't developing for whatever reason. I'm not really complaining because I see what they are aiming for, but there is zero incentive to get high draft picks because those guys all end up stuck at the 50-55 range for nearly everything just as the guys taken later do.

What do you have your Talent Change Randomness set at? And how many rounds are your drafts?

I've noticed if the drafts are too short (less than 10 rounds), the players kind of get muddled together because it needs to be able to create enough major league talent.

[RainMaker]

Also turn off the development lab if you can. The AI managing that is so horrendous it throws everything into a mess.

[dubb93]

I guess it’s entirely possible it could be the settings. I’m playing historical fictional with mostly default settings. 12 teams in the league currently, 8 round drafts, reserve roster no minors, and talent randomness is at default 100.

[RainMaker]

I'd drop the talent randomness down a bit. Maybe 50 or 75. More linear development although less late round gems that develop.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I got curious, so I looked up something fwiw

re: HS players picked high



2020 MLB Draft

2019 MLB Draft
10 HS players 1st round - 4 have been All-Stars already (Witt Jr, Riley Greene, CJ Abrams, Corbin Carroll) At least a couple have notably underachieved -- Brett Baty, Quinn Priester -- but all but one reached the majors (Keoni Cavaco, #14 pick by the Twins, never got above High A, tried to convert to pitcher but failed at that too, playing indy league ball according to Wiki)

2020 MLB Draft
11 HS 1st rounders -- about half have reached the majors, Pete Crow-Armstrong the best thus far with probably Tyler Soderstrom and Jordan Walker the most notable so far behind him.

2021 MLB Draft
15 HS 1st rounders - Jackson Merrill the most notable, Jackson Jobe probably next. only a handful have reached the majors so far

I went back one more, 2018 had 16 HS 1st rounders (over half the 1st round)
Several flame outs in this crop, three that didn't sign, most notable names would include Nolan Gorman, Brice Turang, Matthew Liberatore, Bo Naylor, Tristan Casas.

All of that leads me to wonder something about real-life vs gaming (or gamer perceptions): do the HS draftees in OOTP feel even worse than they are because other games have us accustomed to faster progression than seems to be typical?

I ain't go no dog in the fight, nor do I have a strong opinion on whether that's the case, I'm just posing the question as a possibility.

[RainMaker]

It's a good question. The game has its issues but I think they normally do a good job with the difference in HS and college.

College players are usually rated higher overall at the moment. So the good ones can be dumped into A ball right away. But there aren't a ton of them with high potential. So higher floor but lower ceiling for many.

High school players are tricky because you're talking 6 years of development. With how injuries or other factors impact development in the game, it's much much harder to project them. But it goes both ways. You'll find more 5th or 6th round picks who develop over those 6 years and become stars in the league.

I hate to sound like I'm propping up the game too much because there are flaws, but I do feel like it handles development fairly well. It just feels bad because real life player development sucks too. Sometimes that 5 star prospect taken in the top 10 doesn't pan out. The expression "there is no such thing as a pitching prospect" is there for a reason.


Same goes for injuries in the game that a lot of people complained about but when tests were run shows that they mirror MLB pretty well. Real life is much more brutal than we think.

[Atocep]

Yeah the game has its problems but I'll still say this is the best version out of the box and without major updates.

[dubb93]

Yeah the game has its problems but I'll still say this is the best version out of the box and without major updates.

I’m not saying the game is bad just that something seems odd with development. I wouldn’t say it was odd if I wasn’t seeing patterns. I see alot of players having the same ratings at 23 as they do at 30 as they do every year in between. It’s just not what I’m used to seeing with the game but I haven’t upgraded since 23.

[RainMaker]

My biggest issue sim wise is they haven't adjusted for the increase in stolen bases. Top base stealers are just not stealing enough.

[Flasch186]

So strictly based on game results accuracy and statistical accuracy for players in a career sim, which sim is best? Still ootp?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dubb93]

So strictly based on game results accuracy and statistical accuracy for players in a career sim, which sim is best? Still ootp?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I haven’t noticed any oddities in the sim engine. The actually graphic representation is somehow worse than it was in 2023 which makes me think they just stopped developing it. But besides that if you are just simming it seems really solid.

[Lathum]

I won this mornings Daily Perfecto Sunrise. OK, no big deal, I've won tournaments before but this was a wild ride.

Round 1- Down 3-0 I win 4 in a row
Round 2- Down 3-1 win 3 in a row
Round 3- Up 3-0, lose 3 in a row then win game 7
Round 4- Down 3-1 win 3 in a row
Round 5- Down 3-1 win 3 in a row
Round 6- Down 3-2 win 2 in a row

Crazy and never seen a tournament like it. Funny thing is I was drunk when I drafted and only took 1 catcher but had Bullet Joe as the backup. Final record 24-18. Wonder how many teams have played the max games you can in a 64 team daily.